Milking apparatus



Jan.3,1928. 1,654,795I L. DINESEN MILKING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 50, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jan. 3, 192s. 1,654,795

l L. DINESEN MILKING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 50, 1924 2 sheets-sheet 2 Egg/ l Patented Jan. f3, 192s.

UNITED *STATES LAU'nrrs nnvnsEN, or` EINNnAroLIs, finNNnsoTA.

PATENT OFFICE.

MILKING APPARATUS.

l Application le'd December My invention'has for its particular obj ject' to improve that'type of milking apparatus whereinpartial vacuum is maintalned J in almilk can and-.the milk can is connected toga coupling tube and pulsatorby two flexible tubes, the'v one servin to'conduct the `milk from lthecouplin Ycombinations Aof devices hereinafter de' scribed and defined in the claims. l

At thistime, it is thought advisable only to state in .a general way that the invention is directedy to simple means whereby, when the milk is flowing freely from the cow, the pulsator -will produce relatively .long and V strongl pulsating actions and when the milk ceases'to flow freely, -the pulsator will produce relatively short, rapid and less intense pulsating actions, such as desirable to complete the milking operation and which operation is generally known as stripping.

rlfhe present lnvention 1s appllcable generaiiytc lmilking systems of the ,character -above indicated, but for clearness and completeness of disclosure,"1 have, in the accompanying drawings, illustrated the same asapplied to a pulsator mechanism of the character disclosed and claimed in my prior Fatentl #1,521,606, ofdate` January 6, 1925,

. the pulsator mechanism of my entitled Milking-apparatus. The present seems .to be an invention the broad features of which maybe morel readily disclosed after irst having considered the development of the invention and the application-'thereof to rior application in 'a manner that serves to `convert :the milking apparatus of said prior application into a two-line milking apparatus. rJlhe invention applied yas vjust above indicated isl illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like characters indicate like. parts throu hout the several views.

.Referring l,to t e drawings:

Fig. 1 is' a, Aviewipartly'in elevation and,

artly in vertical section, some parts being roken away, illustrating vmy invention as applied to milking apparatus; J Fig. 2 vis a vertical section taken axially l through the pulsator and connected coupling tube;

^ Fig. 3 isaplan viewfof the-milk pail or I receptacle and-immediately connected parts, .Y some portions being broken away;

y tu e to the can .and the other to draw air rom the pulsatorI 3o, 1954. serial N. 758,830.

.withan' air-tight cover b, equipped with a nipple c in which is enclosed a check valvefd'that normally closes an air discharge port Je. The nipple o is connected by a flexible tube f and other connections, not shown, to a vacuum tank or 'other` means for producing and maintaining a partial vacuum in the milk can a The cover b is provided with lan upstandmg sleeve g, the interior ofwhich is lpreferably tapered to closely lit a ta ered conical cut-oli valve It equipped wit an operating handlefj. For vavery important purpose, which will hereinafter be morel fully discussed, the valve'jt is provided with diametrically opposite upper and lower grooves and m connected b an oblique port n.5 The sleeve g is provi ed with outstanding 'nipples-p and t, which, as will hereinafter appear, afford air and milkports, respectively. f

The numerati e indicates a flexible air tube, and the numeral 7 a flexible milk .tube,

Kformed with a chamber 10, the annular upy wardly projecting flange of which is seated with a tight joint against a bearing surface 111 and telesco ed around a depending flange 12 on the un er'side of the central ortion of a pulsator cylinder 13', the ends o which latter are closed by detachable heads 14.

l In Fig. 1, there are 'shown teat cups of the character disclosed in my prior Patent-No. 1,201,808, of October 17, 1916, and which teat cups are of the double chamber type rovided withJ collapsible and expansible lnner tubes 15 that form Yinner teatchamwithin the fouter shells 18. L

The couplin tube 8 is provided with four .'.bers 16 and surrounding air chambers 17 projecting mi tubenipples' 19, located 'one tudinally pair on each side ofthe chamber K-These four nipples 19 are connected independentlyl, by branch milk tubes 20, each to the inner c amber 16 'of a cooperating teat cup.l

.- The pulsator cylinder 13, at its under portion, is made thick and formed with longieXtended air conduits 21 that ter- Y minat. 1n inner end ports -22 and outerend ports 23. The inner end ports 22`-are locatedlon opposite sides of a central port 24 and qulte close thereto, while the ports 23 are located not'iar from theends of the cylinder and,o as shown, are adapted to be opened and closed` to any desired extent by. choke valves 25. The central port'24, as shbwn, is formed as an extension of the passage through. a tubulargclamping post 26, Ithe upper end of which is screwed into the bottom of the cylinder and the lower end of lwhichis-extended through a perforationin the bottom of the 'coupling' tube 8 and is pro-V vided With a thumb nut 27, which, when tightened, securely clamps the coupling` tube 8 to the pulsator cylinder. AIt may now Vbe notedsthat the extended end of the air tube 6 is connected onto the projected end of the tubular post 26 and, hence,lis in constant communication with the port 24;

The' pulsator cylinder .13, at its under side, is provided with four air tube nipples -36 projecting from opposite sides thereof and located in -pairs on opposite sides of the :enl

central group of ports 22 and- 24. These air tube nipples 36 are connected, two to the right-hand air conduit 21 and two tothe -left-handfair conduit 21, and these air tube nipples 36 are independently connected by flexible airftubes 37toaifr tube nipples 38 .applied to the outer shells-18 of the respective teat cups and in co munication with the outer air chambers 1 thereof.,

Workin within the pulsator cylinder 1 is a doub e-ended piston,- the headsv 3940i' -which are connected by an axial piston stem 40;. and loosel surrounding this stem 4 0 is an annular va ve 41 that closely lits the cyl# I' inder 13. This valve 411', 'at its-underside,

has a port 42, which, under reci roca'tory.

. movements vof said valve, will a ternately connect 'the central air port 24, first tothe right-hand port 22 and then to the lefthand port 22. In practice, the central portion of the cylinder 13 will be 'constantly subject'to atmospheric pressure-'and said valve 4 1 is' so formed that it will connectthe left-hand port 22 tothe atmosphere when the o'rt 42 connects the right-hand port 22 to. t e central or `suction port 24 and,`conve rsely, will.

connect the-right-hand port 22 to the atmosphere .when said port 42 connects the left-hand'port 22 to said central or suction port 24. By means best show n inv my aboveidentifiedv priorapplication,- the valve 41 is held a ainst rotationl and limitedfinl the ex-l tent o its oscillatory movement. The nucoupling tube i 8.

meral 4 4`indicates long studs applied to theA v ends of the piston stem 40 and 'engageable with the cylinder heads 14 to limit the reciprocating movements of the piston heads.

Thel central portion 'of the valve stem 40 is sho'wnas formed with diametrically projecting bosses 45 and with an axial passage All of the elements above indicated by l'numerals-except the numerals 6, 7 and 26,

are identical with elements indicated by corresponding numeralsl in the said prior application, andthe operation of the pulsatin mechanism j proper is fully described ingsai prior application For the/purposes ofthis.

case, it'is onlyj desirable to statethat, under partial vacuuminaintained Vin the' milk pail a, when the `valve h .is opened, as shown in Fig. 1, the' pulsator pistonwill be reciprocated, thereby vproducing intermittent pul-zf sations in the' teat cups, which Lwill draw niilk fronrth'e teat cups through -the branch milk tubes 6 into the coupling tube 8 andthence through thelmilk tube and valve L, into the milk can. In the -particular milking apparatus illustrated in the said prior' application, the suction or ypartial vacuum necessary tov operate thel pulsa-tor` was lren- `deredj effective inthe pulsator, byair drawn throughthe milk tube, and this partial vacuum was rendered effective-by connecting the ports 21 to` the chamber 10.0f the andthe air takenin in the operation ofthe In `the structure illustrated in said prior application, there 'wasbut the single combined air and' milk tubeL for connecting the pulsatortothe milk can, j

pulsa-tor was drawn in. with the milk'.A l

through the single combined tube. That varrangement had this very desirableaction. that, while the milk was flowing freely from the cowand the con'ibined air andnlilk tube was well filled with milk, the air ilowwould be choked down so that the pulsatorwould make relatively -slow and long continued' strokes, such as required in thenornial or full milking action, but when the cow was nearlymilke'd out and the flowof milk becameslow, the -air flow-would -be yfreer andv the pulsator would then make relatively short and rapid 'reciprocatiom thereby prolll) ducing just the kind oi'. teat -cup action .rel

quired for what is known as' stripping,

-The sald single tubev or combined milk and air tube connection between the pulsator and the milk'pa'il, however, had this defect;

that milk was liable to work its Way up into the vpulsator mechanism and interfere with its operation. To Aprevent thls,` there was lauf provided in the structure illustrated in the said prior application a check valve mechanism, which, in part, 9curedfthe defect just flow of air in the air tube connection between- -the can and pulsa-tor I then made th1s d1seovery, which is the gist of the present inl.that is, the independent milk and air tube noted.

In .further practice, I have found, however, that a much more satisfactory milking apparatus could, be made by providing independent milk and air tubes for connecting the milkcan to the coupling tube and pulsator; but I also'found 4in myvrst eXperiments that this double tube arrangement was defective in this, that it did4 not have the above noted very desirable .st-ripping. action. This failure in the desired stripping action was quiteapparently 'due to the fact that laccumulation of milk in the milktube did not in any Way choke or restrict the vention, to Wit: that,\in the double tube,

system, the accelerated short stroke action desired for stripping, when the flow of milk fhas slowed down, may be produced by `causing the air and the milk delivered to the can from the teat cups and pulsator, respectively, to flow ,through a common cavity or passage,herein designated broadly as a trap, This trap, as I have now thorou hly demonstrated in practice, when well fil ed with milk, will obstruct the flow of air, so that the movements of the pulsator piston will be long and slow, and when the said trap is only partly lilled with milk and the flow of 'air is thus' less restricted or obstructed, the movementv .of the pulsator piston will speed up, thereby producing the rapid and less intense milk-drawir 'pulsations in the'teat cups, which isso esirable for the stripping. Y Y

In the preferred embodi" ent of my invention, the ltrap above des, bed Iis formed in the cut-off valve h and,` as illustrated in the drawings, the said trap afforded bythe.` grooves k and connecting passage ln. reference to Fig. l, it will be noted that-tl1e' y, lower portion of the trap'formed by the groove lc and passage '1i/will be kept filled with milk when-the flow of milk is free and, infact, the groove k will then be kept-filled with milk up to thenipple '15. When, however, the flow of -milk slows down, more or less of the milk will be sucked out of the trap,

thereby giving a freer flow 'of air through the groovelc, nipple p, and other connections to-the pulsator. Of' course,when theivalve L is rotated so as to carry the groove k out of communication with the nipples p and t,

- the pulsating action will-belentirely'stopped,

said valve, therefore, aiording the double i function of cut-o'valve and trap.

bers separated cup connections, a vacuum-actuated cover are formed with ablock-like portion g2, in which is formed aI U-shaped trap lo connected to anair nipple p and milk n ipple t In this arrangement, the valve h is provided with a groove h2, which, when turned into communication with the trap k,

` starts the pulsatorinto action.

In what is at present believed to be the preferred form of the invention, the pulsator is applied to or closely connected with the coupling head at the free ends of the two lexlble tubes, but broadly considered, the ini vention consists in any arrangement wheresov pass througha trap located on the cover or otherwise closely associated with the vmilk receptacle.- Particularly, this combination or arrangement is deslgned for .use in connection with double-chambered teat cups,-these teat cups havin both milk and air chamy a flexible diaphragm or element. e

What I claim-sis: l

l. AA milk receptacle having an associated trap in which partial vacuumis maintained and through which milk and air are adapted to be delievered into said reeeptacle,exible milk and air tubes extended from said trap, a coupling head connected to the extended end of said milk tube^ and having teat cup connections, and a suction-actuated pulsator associated with said coupling head and connected to the extended end of said air tube.

2.` The combination with a milk receptacle in which maintaine of a trap lassociated with said milk receptacle, a coupling head havin teat p s'ator associated with sald coupling head or pro- 'a milk tube, the extended en of which is connected to said cou ling head, and an air tube, the extended en of which is connected to saidpulsator, the delivery ends of said milk and air` tubes being connected to said tra for the delivery ef air and milk into sai can 'throughsaid trap for the purposes-stated 3 T tructure defined in claini"v v1 in milk receptacle is provided with artial vacuumgis adapted to bev ducing pulsations in the teatcu iconnectlons,

a detac ble cover andin whichv said trap is y applied "to saidv cover, and a valve applied to said cover andI operative to simultaneously connect saidv milk and airltubes to said milk receptacle andy to .simultaneously cut olf communication lbetween said two tubes and milk receptacle.-

4, The. structure which said pulsator has a tubular air-condeaned'inclaim 1 in 130 ducting stem extended tlirough said coupling tube and in which the extended end of said milk tube is connected to the extended end of said stem.

5. The combination With a milk receptacle i, in which partial vacuum'is adapted to be maintained, of a valve seat leading vto the interior of said milk receptacle, milk and air tubes leading from said AValve seat, a`.

coupling head connected to the 'extended end of. said milk tube and havingteat cup connections, a vacuum-actuated pulsator associated with said coupling headkfor producing-pulsations in saidteat cup connections, said pulsator having anair port connected to the extended end of said air tube, and withinthe valve seat of said milk receptacle a cut-off'valve formed with a,passage aording a` trap through which milk and air, re-

'LAURiTs DINESMI.v 

